The Lair
by Nekocin
Summary: [AU, series of one shots, KaiRei] In response to the lj community kaireikisses. Please do not mind the numbering of the chapters.
1. 01

**Title:** One mid-afternoon  
**Author:** Nekocin  
**Pairing:** (mild) KaiRei  
**Themes:** _#6 Tea + #19 Words_  
**Rating/Warnings:** G, OoC(?)  
**Words:** 474  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade** doesn't belong to me  
**Author's notes:** This is my first time writing stories that require themes. **:3** It looked fun when I read the rules. I only hope this one looks okay, because it's not exactly yaoi—just mild shounen ai (Is that even allowed?).

----

On mid-afternoons like this one, he (almost) always finds himself wondering about the nature behind his 'friendship' with a certain Kon Rei. It seems as if he keeps coming back to the other—no, _correction_—_REI_ is the one who keeps coming back to him.  
They're not exactly what one would call "friends", though, the term seems to fit perfectly for some reason.

Is it because of the many quiet but meaningless smiles the other would send his way from across the table? Or is it because of the many times they seem to be spending together without the three younger ones? Or is it just the tea Rei has been serving him these last few weeks?

In the end he has decided that perhaps the answer is the latter one.

"Do you want more, Kai?" Another quiet smile tugging the corners of Rei's lips, as the owner picks up the tea pot, holding it in mid-hover in his direction—or rather his cup's direction.

He glances down at his near empty cup, which he has been cradling between his palms for a few minutes. Without a second thought he holds out his cup, silently saying 'Yes, please' in his mind. There's no need of those words being said. He doesn't have to. And Rei understands it anyway, taking his cue to refill his cup.

After having filled the cup to the brim, he holds the teapot back and places it on the tea tray on the plastic table that separated their chairs. Rei flashes him another quiet smile and cradles his own porcelain cup between his hands.

It's rather unusual for him to ask for a re-fill; he doesn't even like tea! The damn liquid tastes bitter at times, sometimes bland—almost like water even, and not to forget disgusting. But there's just something about Rei's concoction that makes him want more. It tastes different, he muses silently, while blowing over his hot drink.

_Almost like—tropical rain wetting the forest, moistening the air and the soil, and fleetingly kissing the leaves...  
_  
He scowls at the thought, glaring at his half-finished cup, before putting it down on the table and stands up.

Rei gives him a bewildered look with a hint of disappointment and hurt. "Is something wrong with your tea?" The quiet smile in place again.

He responds with a sharp glance in Rei's direction. Still no words being said.

The other shrinks back slightly, his smile faltering and a hint of anxiety skitters away from his eyes.

"—it's fine," he mumbles at last, tearing his eyes from his citrine-eyed teammate and walks unhurriedly out of the room. He could feel Rei's quiet but no-longer-meaningless smile behind his back.

Licking his lips to savor the strangely sweet lingering aftertaste Rei's tea has left; he suddenly gets the urge to kiss someone. Absently, he looks over his shoulder.

**END  
**  
----

**1)** _citrine-eyed_ — Ahahaha, I don't do well with clichés. I've noticed a lot of fanwriters giving Rei -_Golden_- eyes. It has a nice ring, of course. I re-watched Beyblade when I got the opportunity and looked at screen caps, sadly Rei doesn't really have golden eyes in my opinion... **gets beaten by Rei-fans**

**TheNekoTalks: ..;;** U-uhm... I-I can explain! Really! I was trying to get back to my metaphor style of writing but instead my writing turned out introspective.  
At first I'd wanted to add _#30 Kisses_ in this one too, but it didn't fit—the theme is stronger than Tea and Words, so I left that one out. I think I've made quite a big deal on the tea-part and quiet smiles

**.:Nekocin:.**

**Edit:** URGH, typos! I edited them. I apologize for the inconvenience.


	2. 02

**Title: **Secrets  
**Author:** Nekocin  
**Pairing:** Kai X Rei  
**Themes:** _#9 Behind the scenes + #16 Debauchery + #30 Kisses_  
**Rating/Warnings: **PG13/R (for yaoi and for implied rp), AU-ish, OoC (?), lime-ish  
**Words:** 1067  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade **doesn't belong to me

_Hiwatari-shachousama_ – it means something like "_President Hiwatari_" or "_Chairman Hiwatari_". And by Hiwatari-shachousama I mean Kai, not his grandfather.

----

**I.**

The first time Kon Rei was introduced to Hiwatari Enterprises' Headquarters as a rookie-worker, he was immediately; adored—either for his looks, his manners or his downright boy-next-door kind of attitude. The older colleagues were impressed with Kon's impeccable manners. The ones around his age were glad to get extra help from the diligent Kon (Hiwatari-shachousama was quite a demanding boss). Everyone liked Rei. Even Hiwatari-shachousama...

At first glance, Hiwatari-shachousama seemed to tolerate Kon's presence much longer than anyone else that had worked longer in Hiwatari Enterprises. He would call the other to his office to check for any progress in the passing days. Which wouldn't be unusual if it weren't for the fact that Hiwatari-shachousama hardly cared for rookies' progresses. As long as their work exceeded his high demands, he would tolerate them within a certain time. No longer than 30 minutes to be exact, which was far lesser compared to the time Hiwatari-shachou sacrificed for Kon himself.

As if that weren't enough to make Kon's naturally curious colleagues suspicious of their 'connection', Hiwatari-shachousama kept calling Kon to his office to 'check' his progress even after a month or two.  
Three months later their suspicions skyrocketed when Kon was suddenly promoted to Head Coordinator of Hiwatari Enterprises HQ. It was downright absurd, it was uncalled for and most of all, damn unfair!

What exactly was going on in Hiwatari-shachousama's office? What exactly was going on behind the scenes? 

No one knew the answer besides Kon and their boss.

When asked, Kon would look nervously around, ready to bolt out of the room just to escape their scrutiny—almost as if he was ashamed to tell, and dodged questions with vague answers when there was no escape to keep them from prying. No one dared asking Hiwatari-shachousama (of course) for fear of their life and even if one of them did, they doubted that the great almighty Hiwatari Kai would tell them anything.

After Kon's promotion, it wasn't a surprise when rumors started to spread among the many workers working under Hiwatari. Rumors—assumptions of what exactly Kon would be doing in the office, more like what exactly Hiwatari-shachousama would be doing.

"Rei is -_most likely_- being black-mailed. He must have stumbled upon one of the many, many secrets going on about the Hiwatari-family and is threatened to keep silent," 

"Poor Rei. By promoting him to Head Coordinator, Hiwatari-shachousama could keep his eyes on Rei most of the time," 

"The Hiwatari-secret must have been quite something valuable to be checked upon whether or not Rei has truthfully been that _sshh sshh_ about it after every three hours,"

A pause. "Do you think Hiwatari-shachousama is interrogating Rei in his office like he's some delinquent? Rei is staying quite longer than usual in Hiwatari-shachousama's office—,"

Another pause. "Do you think Hiwatari-shachousama has finally managed to kill Rei?"

All three paled. "Oh, I hope not. I surely hope not,"

"Rei is one of the greatest people I'd ever met at work!"

"What's taking him so long to settle this hush-hush case with Hiwatari-shachousama?"

"—maybe Rei finds himself tangled within the webs of the Hiwatari hatred and revenge?" 

"—you make it sound as if peaceful-loving Rei had done something pretty bad to incense moody Hiwatari-shachousama. You have read too much of those evil comics!"

"Hey! _Kiss_ isn't evil, Maxie!"

"Really now, Takao. You should stop reading them. They're for kids, not working adults like us three,"

"No they aren't! They're really cool comics! I've just noticed the similarities—I bet Hiwatari-shachousama is the devil incarnate of _Ki_-hey, look! He's back!"

The huddled little group of gossipers immediately turned their heads to the direction of Hiwatari-shachousama's office, hoping to find their flustered and nervous-looking colleague stepping out. Instead, Hiwatari-shachousama stepped out, standing in front of the door, wearing the customary glare on his pale face. Everyone on the same floor froze.

"You're all dismissed. I give you five seconds to get the hell out of this building,"

They gaped at their boss. They were being dismissed?

"What are you staring at? Get going!" S_hachou-sama_ snapped. They withered under his killer glare. Within the limited time, they had apologized for their rudeness, gathered some stuff to work on at home, grabbed their car keys and jackets, and left the building, never once looking back.

If they had, they would have noticed the undeniable smug smirk on their boss' face. 

----

**II.**

"...nnngh..."

His smirk widened when he heard the distinct groan coming from behind. What exactly was going behind the scenes, his subordinates had been wondering these last few months.

Stepping back into his unusual dimly lit office and closing the door behind him, he eyed the huddled bundle near his desk. He leisurely walked to the bundle, ignoring one of the fallen chairs reserved for visitors only before squatting next to his disoriented employee, whose back he was secretly admiring.

"You had quite a nasty fall there—Rei," Hiwatari smirked, watching his employee freeze in his spot.

"You-," Rei let out a frightened whimper and then a gasp. The employer had wrapped his arms around him from behind, nose nuzzling one of the smooth shoulder blades, and trailed kisses on the exposed skin-

_-wait a minute? Exposed skin?_

"You didn't—we didn't-oh God—we-you-," Rei stammered, clearly not comfortable ask THE question.

"—Yes, we did," The other breathed out at last, and tilted Rei's face to his direction, before pressing his dry lips on Rei's quivering ones.

A whimper of protest escapes from behind Rei's throat, as the employee fruitlessly tried to push him away.

He smirked. Again.

If those gossiping subordinates of his ever got the guts to ask him about what exactly was going on in his office between him and Kon Rei, he would have no doubt told them the truth (with some editing of course_). 'Molesting and seducing one of my newest subordinates all right,' _

But after the -_ahem_- they had done that day, he would probably _say 'Debauchery, when employee takes up -ahem- with his employer for a favor,'_  
Of course that didn't quite fit in Kon's case, since it was actually the other way around; the moody employer who compromised the peace-loving employee's virtue through kinky sex.

The last coherent thing he remembered was having sharp nails digging into his shoulders as the owner writhed underneath him, crying and whimpering.

**END  
**  
----

**1)** Kai seems a bit -uh- Out of Character. That's to be expected. I'm actually experimenting Kai's character with his supposedly zodiac sign which can be found and analyzed in (www(dot)geocities(dot)com(slash)bladersforever(slash)bbaeternal(dot)htm). I thought it was interesting to see him as -_that_- Zodiac sign. By pairing him with Rei, he would have made quite a passionate, obsessed (?), demanding (?) and possessive lover, don't you guys think so too? **XD**  
**2)** There does exist such comic. I've read the Dutch version. The art wasn't bad. Very dark-ish. And the comic is supposedly evil because it handles dark themes like death, wandering souls, voodoo, curses etcetera.  
**3)** Pffft, having Takao calling Kai that suffix, got me laughing out loud.

**TheNekoTalks:  
**  
**:blushes furiously:** Nyaaa! I never really intended to go too far into the lime! My imouto said that this isn't like me, to write a lime, that is. Which is quite true—I'm more into slow-paced couple developments. There's something wrong with the way I wrote this fic; there's something seriously wrong with it... maybe it's the rape thing **:seriously dislikes rape in any form:**... **:bangs head on keyboard: **

**Thank you for reading this!  
**  
**.:Nekocin:.**


	3. 04

**Title: **The gifted past  
**Author: **Nekocin  
**Pairing: **mention of KaiRei (established) and mild YuriRei  
**Themes:** _#5 Memories_ and _#8 Echoes of a song_  
**Rating/Warnings:** PG, AU-ish, OoC(?)  
**Words:** 359  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me.  
**  
_Rei finds something sentimental to think in his closet  
_  
----

You found it accidentally among the junk in one of the many boxes stored up under your closet. It was a bright-colored bandana with an equally bright-colored message on it, saying something of "you 'n me will take the world" in a foreign language you'd once understood.

A sense of déjà vu enraptures your thoughts in a whirlwind of overwhelming source of warmth, threatening you to look at those words more closely. The message was signed with small woven initials '_y.i._'...

...and you remembered.

His rarely seen smiles. His often shy touches. His barely contained mischief. His rather inexperienced kisses. The flashes of scenes that came to mind were like echoes of a song--slowly repeating verses, the words, the notes--quickly going over to a climax, playing the F-is tune along with the A and the E--which then fade away as it ends within the passage of time.

You just realize how much you have forgotten (or have almost forgotten) about him. Strangely enough, you find comfort within those thoughts of him, those memories with him. Almost fondly, you bound the bandana atop the current red one and looked in the hand mirror you've snatched from the dresser.

And stuffed the cloth further away into the very back of your closet.

"Silly, you. Neon yellow clashes with my eyes and hair," You chuckled.

Your skin crawled when you suddenly heard someone behind you, quietly saying, "What are you talking about?"

An unconscious hand went to your breastbone as you tried to calm down, smiling sheepishly up at the other. "Nothing. Nothing at all," When did he come in?

He raised his eyebrows inquiringly. "It's almost time to go. Are you done?"

You shot a fleeting look to your side to check if your bags were ready and then nodded. "Aa,"

He didn't get enough time to blink when you abruptly leaned to his face to give him a faint brush against his lips.

"—what's that for?"

You hesitated, unsure whether you should be truthful or not about whom you've been thinking of. And the opted with, "Today is a wonderful day! I couldn't resist surprising you!"

"..."

**END**

----

TheNekoTalks:

Uhm... yeah, not really that good. But oh well... I thought it was nice to have Yuri in it. Erm... yeah, anyways, I'm already done with the next one. Will post them next week I suppose.  
Oh, if anyone is wondering I used to play the recorder (one of the many flutes out there) which explains why I use the F, A and E.

**Thank you for reading this!**

.:Nekocin:.


	4. 06

**Title:** Sakura  
**Author:** Nekocin  
**Pairing:** Kai+Rei  
**Theme:** _#26 Endless love_  
**Rating/Warnings: **G, AU-ish, OOC  
**Words:** 357  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me.  
**  
_Nothing lasts forever.  
_  
**----  
**  
"I'll love you forever,"

Anyone who believes this is an idiot.

The thought of it makes you want to kick whoever came up with such a cheesy pick up line.  
Nothing lasts forever. Just like a cherry blossom tree which is known for its sacred short-lived petals, wouldn't. No longer blooming atop the branches.  
Or like growing old as time passes by. No longer would one be as handsome has one had been twenty years ago.

That's the way of life.

So when you hear others proclaim their endless love to their lovers, you would give them a look of disdain or disgust. They were all naive. After a few months or so they had probably caught another beauty, saying the same thing all over again without looking back to their shattered exes they had once adored.

So when Rei whispered the same thing into your ears, you would scowl and glare at him. A sense of dread wormed its way into your chest after he confessed with _-that-_ same line you've heard many, many times before and he started placing pleading light kisses on your fingertips.

It meant that the spark within would soon die away. Like those cherry blossoms losing their hold on their respective branches, getting swept away by the wind to create beautiful fallen petals before withering away as admirers stepped on them.

He didn't really question why you never say those words to him, even when you were alone together. He didn't mind. He wouldn't understand.

Poor naive little Rei.

Though it's noticeable that never hearing them coming from your lips pained him. So when the pain becomes apparent in those lovely eyes you opt to soothe him with some mind-numbing kisses or erotic foreplays, just to show how much you enjoy being with him.

It's best to take the present time into both your hands. Because some day, maybe not now, not next week, or next month, but some day you and Rei will only see each other in photos while reminiscing the precious time you had once spent together.

Some day the love will fade away from both your lives.

**END**

----

TheNekoTalks:  
  
Kai strikes me as a pessimistic person. 'nough said. ****

Thank you for reading this!

.:Nekocin:.


	5. 05

**Title: **Sacricifial rituals  
**Author: **Nekocin  
**Pairing: **uh...Kai+Rei  
**Themes: **_#7 Feel + #10 Moonlight_  
**Rating/Warnings: **M, AU, OOC  
**Words:** 590  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me.  
**  
_It's a ritual no one has ever broken.  
_  
**----**

He faintly feels someone poking his body, his wrist, his pulse... gently. Did he die? Was he wounded? Heavy-lidded, he flutters open his eyes and looks up, glazed.  
Blurs of white and black are mashed together into a watercolor picture print. The visions swim around for a moment, when another blur disrupts the other blurs.

There's a distant echo of nonsensical words.

His swimming vision becomes clear when he got a hang of staring to his front. And the first thing he sees, is the bright round moon hovering in the sky, accompanied by swirling black-gray clouds.

_-Where am I?- _He carefully turns his eyes away from the bright moon to the blur that turns out to be a familiar face. The face looks regretfully down at him, hair falling down obscuring those vermouth eyes. But sadly,...

_-Who are you?-_

... he couldn't place a name to that all round familiar person.

Pale skin. Wine-colored eyes. Slate-blue hair.

**X**

_"Hey, what's wrong?"_

"—nothing,"

"Are you ill?"

"—no,"

"Hungry?"

"—no,"  
  
_"Do you need something?"_

"—no,"

"—did you just get yourself dumped?"

"—idiot,"

"Wha-at? What's wrong with that reason?"

"—you sound like Takao,"

"Fine. Take these pills before you go to sleep. Just in case,"  
  
**X**

_-I'm sorry-_ A warm but cold clammy hand cups one side of his face, moving carefully across his rather icy skin.

He vaguely wonders why the stranger-who-wasn't-really-a-stranger touching him. Did that guy know him well? Were they friends?

He wants to sit up and tell the stranger he's doing okay. But the moment he moves, the feeling of something as heavy as a 1000 kilograms weight lift is dropped on top of his chest, preventing him to do so. The unseen weight didn't budge no matter how hard he tries to get up/

_-What's going on?-_ He asks aloud and turns to the guy kneeling next to him.

_-It's useless.-_ The guy says, planting a hand on top of his breastbone to cease him wanting to sit up.

_-What are you talking about?- _  
That's strange. Why is he breathing harshly through his nose and mouth? He glares at the stranger. _-What did you do?-_

A finger touches his lips lightly to silence him. Blink. Blink.

The stranger leans his face over his, giving way for the moonlight to blind his surprised eyes.

**X**

_"—you won't understand,"_

"Huh?"

"It's best you don't understand at all,"

"—Erh—right,"  
  
**X**

_-I'm sorry- _The stranger whispers sadly and with the same warm but cold clammy hand palm, the stranger lays it upon _-his-_ eyes... closing them as if he wants him to sleep. The moon disappears from his sight.

Then...

... something gets stuck within his throat. He is seeing everything in white.  
Fear. Fear stiffens his insides and then pain makes its grand entrance.

He couldn't scream.

He couldn't shout.

He couldn't move.

He's going to die!

Drip...  
... drip...  
Drip...

Faintly, something thick, liquid-like and metallic is dripped down upon his lips. It slides down his chin, his cheek, his jaw line.

_-I'm sorry, Rei.- _Someone licks it off, working his way up to his jaw, his chin--his lips.

**X**

_"—haven't you noticed?"_

"Hm? What did I not notice?"

"—I—I'minlovewithyou,"

"Say what?"  
  
**X**

It hurts...

_-Good bye-_

And the farewell is sealed with a kiss.

**END  
**  
**----**

**TheNekoTalks: **

The dialogues written without the ".." quotation marks are not supposed to be seen it as an ordinary dialogue. It's to say we're sort of in Rei's mind, being all hazy and all disoriented that we're not really sure whether or not he's conscious or unconscious. And uh... about the actual background... just imagine Kai being a very obsessive lover who only wants the one with whom he's obsessed with to belong only to him. Heh. The original part 5 was much more confusing and difficult to comprehend.

Anyway, I love AU! I'm sure you have all noticed how I love throwing alternative universes here and there. I think it's just fun to play around with the characters without making money.

**Thank you for reading this!**

**.:Nekocin:.**


	6. 07

**Title:** Style  
**Author:** Nekocin  
**Pairing:** Mild Kai+Rei  
**Theme:** _#8 Hand me down, #18 oversized shirt_  
**Rating/Warnings: **G, AU-ish, OOC  
**Words:** 200  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me.  
**  
_Kai thinks he has style.  
_  
**----  
**  
It probably never crossed their minds that he was the one who burned Rei's many hand-me-down shirts. Because no one would ever suspect Kai.  
Considering the fact that those shirts had once belonged to Kinomiya, it wasn't much of a surprise that he had decided Rei didn't have to suffer wearing poor excuse of fashion faux-pusses.

Takao had no sense of style. Nor fashion. And Rei was too polite to point that out to him... or maybe he also had no sense of fashion. What would a nekojin know about color combination of one green oversized shirt that hung past his thighs decorated with dark blotches of red, black and blue circles, and a pair of faded blue-black shorts with stick-out beyblade stickers on either pocket?

Nothing in particular perhaps.

If only he knew how to coax Rei into kissing him for being nice enough to barbeque those ugly drabs...  
It was, after all, quite hard to steal them from under Rei's attentive nose.

"Hey, have you seen my blue shirt, Kai?" 

"No,"

"Oh—strange, I remember putting it right here—," Rei pointed on the empty chair next to the door. And then pointed accusingly back at him. "YOU!" 

**END**

----

**TheNekoTalks:**

Err... Kai is so... OoC **O.o**  
Sorry about being late.

**Thank you for reading this!**

.:Nekocin:.


	7. 08

**Title:** Two worlds   
**Author:** Nekocin  
**Pairing:** Mild Kai+Rei  
**Theme:** _#20 Mistranslation_  
**Rating/Warnings: **G, AU-ish, OOC  
**Words:** 486  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me.  
**  
_Rei and Kai have a small misunderstanding._   
----

There must be something very wrong with his dictionary. He suspected as much.  
People keep staring at him as if he were an alien from outer space, whenever he asked for some proper direction to the nearest train station. He refused to think he must have mispronounced the words, because, really, he did his best to roll his tongue, "ball" his words a bit and pretend he was choking on a chicken wing.

There must be really something wrong with his dictionary. And he bought that thing with his last lunch money in that rundown shop. Meh. He probably should look for the nearest police station and start rambling in Chinese until they call a linguist over who might help him.

His plan had worked--well, half way.

It was just his luck that one of the higher officers going under the name of Hiwatari, noting from the many stripes on his uniform, was multilingual--at least, that was what he assumed.

The guy took his rambling without a blink of confusion in those hard vermouth eyes. He seemed to be taking in everything what Rei had said no matter how silly the speech became near the end. It was unnerving when the police man hardly said anything that indicated he understood.

Maybe the guy was just pretending to understand.

Like any idiot Rei started turning out to be, he demanded something silly without much thought. _"Man ngo eh!"_

The officer's left eye twitched slightly in surprise.

_"Dim gai lei mh yuk tak?"_

The officer thinned his lips and looked at either sides of his seat as if expecting his colleagues to be in the same office.

_"Lei thai ping kuo ah? Lei xik teng wah mo?"_ Rei persisted. _"Lei siong chi mat ye? Man ngo eh!"_

The officer's left eye twitched again. Not in surprise but in annoyance.

Before he could continue his rambling in Cantonese the officer shot forward, tripping over his own feet (O.o), grabbing both sides of Rei's face and pecked him lightly on the lips.  
Gee, he never thought he would ever see the day when a guy come crashing down to plant a kiss on another guy.

_"Ni bi zui,"_ Hiwatari whispered and let go.

Shocked, Rei fell off his chair. "Whatthe--what the hell was that for?" He all but screamed. 

Hiwatari looked annoyed at him again. "Oh good. You can speak a language I can perfectly understand,"

"You didn't have to kiss me for that!"

"You asked for it,"

"I did not! I was just rambling around waiting for someone who would be considerate enough to give me directions," 

"...oh. Why didn't you say so in the first place?" 

"How should I know you guys can understand -this- language better?"

"I'm the only linguist in this force. So state your business before I put you behind bars for intoxicating a law officer,"

Rei felt his jaw slackened. "Ha?"

**END**

----

**Terms:** (considering the fact that my Cantonese and Mandarin is slightly rusty please forgive me for pronouncing the words wrong...)

_"Man ngo eh!" _- "Ask me!" in this case, Kai misunderstood it for "Kiss me!" because of the "man". It depends on how one pronounces "man"  
_"Dim gai lei mh yuk tak?"_ - "Why aren't you moving?"  
_"Lei thai ping kuo ah? Lei xik teng wah mo?"_ - "Who are you looking for? Can you understand my language?"  
_"Lei siong chi mat ye? Man ngo eh!"_ - "What do you want to know? Ask me!" Again, in this case Kai misunderstood it. XD  
_"Ni bi zui,"_ - "You shut up," (Mandarin) 

**TheNekoTalks:**

Err... Kai is so... OoC O.o Rei also.

**Thank you for reading this!**

.:Nekocin:. 


	8. end?

**Title:** The End  
**Author:** Nekocin  
**Pairing:** Kai+Rei, mentions of Boris+Yuri, HitoshiBrooklyn, Mao(OC), DaisukeHitoshi uhm... yeah...  
**Themes:** _the rest of the 30 numbers_  
**Rating/Warnings: **PG13, T, OOC, fluff, various themes  
**Words:** 3695  
**Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't belong to me.  
**

_The KaiRei love story. _  
----

**#1 - Trial and Error**

The first time he met the guys he could bet a million that they initially thought he was a girl wearing baggy traditional Chinese robes. Who wouldn't? He was both short and small, wore his hair long and, he grudgingly admit, had a girlish face because of the baby fat that had yet to disappear from either sides on his cheeks.

Takao had jokingly treated him as if getting near him was enough to spread cooties within the bey-stadium in a matter of seconds. It wasn't a matter of kissing then.

Max had held him back when he shot forward to shake some sense into Takao's (as commented by Kai) puny little pea-brain. Of course, he had noticed the repetition which made it even more effective to point out Takao's complete lack of tact. 

He felt insulted. But he knew everyone's first impression of him was almost always near "are you a girl?"

"You're very wrong Kon,"

He blinked when Kai spoke up.

"Then what was your first impression?"

Kai had smirked--almost cruelly. "What is a drag queen doing here?"

His confused face crumbled into disappointment and annoyance. He flicked him off.

**#2 - Mirror; reflection**

Max noticed something very off happening within his team.

It wasn't because Kyouju was being his antisocial self by locking himself up in his room after a little disagreement with Takao about something Max wasn't quite clear of yet. That was normal.  
It wasn't because Takao was moping around in the garden, training himself unusually hard to come up with a new opening strategy. that was also normal.

Since bother Kyouju and Takao were raging a Cold War, Max had decided not to meddle with their random issues and chose to give them some space before he would demand _"KISS AND MAKE UP ALREADY!"_ in an un-Max way.

Max is by nature a social person; he always needs someone to talk to. This was why he had appointed Rei to be his talk-and-sit buddy for the moment. Kai was out of the question. The guy just didn't strike him as someone who would sit down and listen to whatever stuff he rambled on and on about. Which brought him back to point one--he realized something strange.

When he said he had appointed Rei as his buddy-for-the-moment he also meant he was sitting with Kai which was contradicting his previous statement. It was just... somehow he found himself sitting between Rei and Kai in the living room, saying nothing really in particularly.

He looked at Rei--who was writing some random Chinese characters on slips of paper. Rei had explained he was writing charms for his bedroom door to ward off bad spirits and bad dreams. Then he looked at Kai--who was reading the morning papers. Max assumed Kai liked reading the _Criminal and Justice Section. _

He then looked back to Rei and then to Kai.

Back and forth.

Back.

Forth.

When Rei leaned over his writing, Kai would lean over in his seat. When Kai straightened the next page, Rei would smooth out the next slip. Max found it kinda funny to witness them like this.

**#3 - Just like this...**

As the captain of the team everyone expects him to teach a thing or two about something neat between defying gravity and using air vibrations to heat up the atmosphere. Chemical reactions of the air, the ground and anything related all rested upon his drive. his drive to win. His drive to win fast. His drive to win fast and triumph.

Oh, he would teach all right.  
He would teach them to be hard. To be strong and merciless. He would train them to be his little warriors. His little army. He would teach them everything. That's a captain's job.

He had almost killed that stupid interviewer when she had innocently implied that he should teach his army how to kiss properly. Because to her, a quick peck is an insult.

If Kon weren't that fast enough to hold him down with his weight on Kai's back he would have committed a bloody murder right there, He didn't even remember how the heck they got to that topic... until Kon had explained that one of their fans had randomly asked how they would show their love, upon which Kon had answered: a quick peck on the cheek because he was just too shy. 

**#4 - Deceit of senses**

People know he was stupid. People know he was blind. People know he had always been an asshole. Well, he is now sure that everyone knows too much. Not excluding his friends either.

They know he was kinda bad in math (or science or physics) but that was because he did not see the importance of looking for an x-variable, led through a y-variable that equaled a constant worth of a third root through integral A to B. He doesn't wasn't to become another Einstein. He doesn't want to become an older copy of Kyouju either.

They know he wasn't quite good in analyzing stuff from texts to attack strategies. That's because it's Kyouju's job to be good in that. He already saw the logic of attack one that enclosed attack two to attack three. There was no need to analyze the "why-s" because he already understood.

He understood things quite easily. Almost everything even. He just couldn't word the whole thing out.

Max and Kyou will be surprised if he ever were to comment that he was surprised that Kai and Rei hadn't kissed each other yet, seeing as how awfully lost they always look at each other.

**#11 - Hand in Hand**

Kyouju usually wondered where the others got their strengths from. When they get beaten down, they mope for a second or two, licked their wounds and then were up for another attack. If it were him he would have wallowed in self-pity for a very, very long time until one of the guys would notice him being depressive and pull him out of his shell.

So he decided to study his team and took his conclusions. He observed every downs his team had encountered so far.

Takao would scream rage and murder, get awfully mad at no one in particular and train Seiryu and himself non-stop, until he pull something ingenious, like manipulating velocity in which he launched his beyblade and add extra flairs and coordinates, to get the attack just right. his strength probably relied on his ability to be stubborn about anything he believed in was in his favor. He has always wanted to prove himself. 

Max would look hurt, of course, fumble with his beyblade, murmur some things to Genbu before launching it out and making use of another strategy. Kyouju wasn't surprised when he realized Max's source of strength came from both his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Mizuhara had created most of Max's world, after all.

Rei would be angry with himself--for being weak--train himself, just like Takao and Max, to overcome his weakness. He would graciously accept his defeat, all right, if the gap in strength was too great. Nothing really out of order since most of Rei's strength came from believing he could take on anything with his Byakko. His ability to realize his own weaknesses was just an extra mix.

As for Kai--Kyouju couldn't be any sure.

Of course, Kai would be angry. Unlike the others, Kai would plan a perfect revenge attack, train himself harder than anyone Kyouju had seen (even if they looked inhumanly impossible), that it was impossible to beat him twice in a match. It was scary when Kai moped in that phase. It meant real business--with lots of spice, heat, fire and whatever compassion Kai couldn't manage to produce in the battle. And his source of strength?

Kai would rather kiss Takao instead of telling that little secret to the world. (Which Kyouju doubted he would do) But fear not, Kyouju was already on to him. According to his many, many calculations and side notes, Kai's source of strength came probably from--helping Rei up when he accidentally tripped over his own feet.

**#12 - Sunshine & Rain**

Rei thinks he has a thing for contrasting colors. Mostly black and white. This explained why he liked wearing white tops and black pants. He would have liked to wear all-round black-and-white if it weren't for the fact those were mourning colors. He wasn't mourning. He didn't want to disrespect the universal morals of mourning clothing, which was why he liked wearing his red bandana and his red sash.

Kai, however, liked only dark colors. If his clothes weren't dark enough he would darken it by adding something extra like his flowing scarf for instance. His whole appearance intimidated everyone. He liked being seen as an unapproachable individual. But lately he wanted to drop that look and take on something different. Something cool. His shirts and pants have straps now. Red ones.

Hikari called them "kisses" after checking the color out in one of her many girly magazines. Hikari had then randomly pointed out Kai and Rei looked like opposites but seemed to like hanging around with each other without any awkwardness.

Rei had looked at Kai and the other had looked back. Both of them smirked.

"I don't like those looks," Max had whispered to Takao.

Kyouju chuckled nervously and hugged his laptop.

"It's scary when Kai has -that- look. It's even scarier when Rei copies it," Takao commented.

**#13 - Boy meets boy**

Yuri and Takao shook hands. They had agreed on a bet. With whom would Rei go out first: Boris or Rai? It was actually a lose-lose bet for Rei was too polite to reject both offers even though he didn't quite understand why Boris and Rai were suddenly being so nice and out of character towards him.

Another bet was arranged. This time Yuri and Boris shook on it because Takao was on Yuri's side. What would Kai do if he "accidentally" walks in on Rei dressing? Turn away and be a gentleman or just stare dazedly at how Rei's long hair pooled down across the floor.

As much as Yuri was tempted to bet on the latter, he decided on the first. Kai was quite a gentleman. He wouldn't stare. He had walked in on Yuri while the other was changing many times before turning on heels and walk away to give him some privacy.  
Boris refused to believe Kai was that nice and clean and decided on the latter.

In the end Boris had been right.

Kai had been too shocked to move away upon seeing Rei half-dressed. Boris went to collect his rewards. He demanded a kiss from Yuri and an extra meal from Takao.

**#14 - Dangling conversations**

It wasn't really in his nature to listen in but he just couldn't help it. He was just lying nearby a pool on the verandah, staring at the vast night sky and the twinkling stars hoping to catch an owl prancing his feathers to seduce a lady owl when he suddenly heard two people heading his way, making snapping comments at each other did he give them his attention. 

Hitoshi and Kai were having a sort of disagreement. He couldn't really tell what their disagreement was about, though he did overhear his name being mentioned a few times along with Ivanov and Rei's names. He silently wondered if he had done something displeasing. If he did, he couldn't remember.

"You should be honest with yourself, Kai,"

"I'm already honest with myself. Did you think I hadn't noticed this _-this-_ thing in me this whole time?"

"I know you're upset about this but you cannot force yourself to forget it. Your feelings will always be there."

"I hate his as much as you do,"

"No you're not. You have Brooklyn. Don't think I hadn't seen you staring at him when he-,"

_**-SPLASH-** _

Brooklyn fell into the pool for leaning too near when he tried to see what was going on.

Both Hitoshi and Kai looked to him in slight surprise when he emerged from the freezing water, coughing and sputtering.

"You okay?" Hitoshi said with concern.

"Yeah," Brooklyn muttered between coughs. "I fell from the verandah,"

Kai rolled his eyes behind Hitoshi when the other quickly offered a hand.

"You know, I could kiss you right now... and you're awfully wet," Hitoshi had whispered, amusement dancing in his eyes when Brooklyn turned red.

**#15 - Elsewhere**

"Take me to the amusement park," Rai had demanded when he visited Rei. Surprised, Rei nodded and brought him to the nearest park. Rei was used to getting orders from the guy whom he had always looked up to as an older brother.  
Rai had dragged him from one booth to another, excitedly asking what exactly the games were and how they were called in Japanese. He was acting like a kid on sugar that it scared Rei to even ask why he was being out of character.  
However, Rai saved him the trouble from asking. He later explained it to Rei when they sat in one of the cabins that hung on the Ferris wheel. 

Mao was engaged to one of the villagers--fisherman's son of sorts, because she has neared the age where everyone should call her an "otome" (a blooming lady). It depressed Rai that she was going to leave him and the others, taking upon the roles of a young bride, a wife and a soon-to-be mother. It made him realize he should settle down too for as each year passes he wasn't getting any younger.

Rei didn't know how to react to this newfound information. It had almost seemed like yesterday when he protected her from neighbouring bullies, taught her the ways of beyblading and kept her under his wing. It was only until she started harboring certain feelings towards him that he distanced himself from her. In truth, he was actually happy she was going to settle down with someone. He almost couldn't wait for the wedding.

Rai admitted he couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand seeing her plant a kiss on her fiancé's cheek. He couldn't stand the way she would touch that guy's hand. He couldn't stand it when the guy returned her feelings no matter how unmanly he was being about his relationship.  
Rai always had a thing with developing complexes. He had a sister complex and it made Rai realize how lonely he felt. 

"You'll always be my brother," Rei had softly said after Rai had confessed his problem with Mao's engagement. He gave Rai a good luck and happiness charm written in katakana by a miko (priestess). Then he thought about Kai. Would Rai develop a brother complex if Rei told him he... euh... liked someone?

**#17 - You're as good as...**

Watching Hitoshi and Brooklyn flirt almost made him want to bash his head into the nearest wall, because, seriously, why out of all people did Hitoshi have to like the King of Darkness? He was jealous for some reason unknown. He knew he was. But that didn't mean he would admit it to that smirking Takao.

"Don't worry, kid. It's normal," Takao had grinned before patting him on the shoulder. A sign of support.

"No, it's not!" He had bit back.

Takao immediately pulled away, hands raised in surrender.

Rei had kept silent sitting on his chair the whole time, taking in whatever he saw in front of him because that's one of the things he did best. He never thought Takao was that understanding enough to hear Daisuke's rant till the end without really commenting anything random or stupid.

In a way, Takao could be so charming with his unusual trait to surprise people. If Rei were in his place, he would feel awkward to hear a young kid having feelings for his older brother who was already in a relationship with another guy.

He wondered how Rai would feel if Yuri started confiding to him that he once had a thing for Rei, who was secretly harboring fluffy feelings for Kai.

In a blink, Hitoshi had planted a kiss on Brooklyn's forehead without a real reason.

Both Rei and Takao had to hold Daisuke down before he could give himself a concussion.

**#22 - Late night conversation**

They rarely talked to each other in the mornings because they were always busy. Busy with training. Busy with training some more. Busy with interviews. Busy with games. Busy with life.

They rarely talked to each other in the afternoons because they were always doing something else that came out unplanned in the mornings.

The only times when they could hold a decent conversation was at night.

"How have you been?"

"Fine. You?"

"I'm thoroughly spent. You didn't have to drive us that hard,"

"If you find my trainings that difficult to follow then go find someone else,"

Rei winced. "I didn't mean it like that-," 

"Good night, Kon,"

Rei sighed. "-okay, good night,"

Their talks always end like this. Yuri found it frustrating every time he over hears the news firsthand. He could almost imagine the many hurt looks Rei must have pulled or the many stabs Kai must have felt, but seriously he didn't want to care any more. He just wanted them to stop dancing some tango only those two can play and get on with the salsa everyone could understand. 

Boris called him meddlesome before pointing out that he shouldn't be worrying about other people when Boris was busy kissing him.

**#23 - Possible maybe**

He had just finished one of his many important meetings and couldn't stop thinking about how much he needed a vacation. He felt old. He felt weary. He felt overworked.

As he walked down the corridors to his office, he overheard his secretary giggling along with another female colleague about something they called "hot pairs".  
A glimpse over their shoulders made him retrace his steps and stare. Was that a picture of Kon Rei topping Hiwatari Kai in a kissing game? Or was it upside down?

When his secretary noticed his presence, she guiltily admitted that she liked drawing Kon and Hiwatari together even though she knew it was wrong to pair these two young boys. She had a thing for their ambiguity--it wasn't impossible to see them as a couple.

**#24 - Hand on my heart**

When it was night, he usually went to bed with a clear head. He would sleep and dream about nothing but darkness, occasionally about Suzaku when she wanted him to listen to her cries of loneliness. He liked the routine.

But for some reason something was keeping him awake these last few nights. He would stare at the tiled ceiling above and wait for sleep to claim him. Which never came. It must have been that dream he had about his friend. 

He could hear the others retiring to their respective bedrooms, mumblings of "good night" were exchanged, doors slammed closed and then nothing else besides the rhythmic thumping of his heart.

_Doki-Doki-Doki--_

The sound of his alarm clock ticking nearby would synchronize with his beating heart. 

_- Tick tick- Doki doki-_

- Tick tick- Doki doki- 

Why wasn't he asleep yet? He stared at his ceiling some more and then placed his arm over his eyes to block his view of those rectangular tiles. He realized he was acting idiotically here and kicked off his comforter.

A small part of him accused Rei for taking away his sleep with just a hazy dream where kisses were lost. He should do something about his restlessness.

**#25 - Please rewind before returning**

He blinked. "Eh? Could you repeat that again? I'm not sure if I heard you right," 

Takao rolled his eyes and Yuri shot Rei a glare.

"I told you he's going to act dumb on us," Takao said.

Yuri then sighed and took a seat next to him before holding Rei's face to look straight into his ice blue eyes. "Tell me the truth, Kon. Do you or do you not _-see-_ anything going on here?"

He ventured carefully, "Uhm... like what?"

"He's hopeless," Takao muttered and walked off, shaking his head.

"I knew I should have taken this into my own hands, "Yuri said and let go of his face. "If it were me, you two would have been together months ago, going all lovey-dovey with each other with kissing and cuddling stuff,"

Rei never thought he would ever see the day that Yuri would confide to him about his plans. Yuri hardly spoke to him.

Rei would never understand how Yuri had fallen for -him- in the first place, before moving on to Boris. Maybe they were saying he was blind.

**#26 - We have hours**

"You know, Yuri and Takao confronted me about something," Rei began when he finally got the chance to talk to Kai that night.

Kai raised an inquisitive eyebrow and nodded to get on with the story.

"They think I'm going blind," 

Kai's eyebrows rose higher. He said nothing though.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Do you think I should wear glasses?"

Kai shook his head after a moment of thought.

"Or lenses?" 

Another negative shake.

"I'm not sure why those two were so worried about my vision when I do think it's perfectly fine,"

"--what are your numbers?" Kai finally said.

"Plus twenty each,"

"That's positive,"

"Yeah--I guess," Rei said before a frown creased his forehead. "I'm sorry, I forgot you like sleeping early. I won't bother you anymore with my unnecessary rambling. Good night,"

He shifted on his feet and turned on his heels, ready to go back to his bedroom.

A firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Surprised, he looked over his shoulder.

Kai was looking rather determined at him when he suddenly said, lightly blushing, "--come over tonight, after the others are asleep,"

He nodded dumbly and stared as Kai's face zoomed in. Tentative lips were placed upon his to seal their deal. They had entered a different dance after the kiss.

**END **

----

TheNekoTalks: 

Finally, _"The Lair"_ is completed. Though admittedly, this isn't really my best work I suppose.

Mwua! My longest one in "The Lair"! I'm so happy I've finally understood how this whole writing with themes works. It's so fun!

**Thank you for reading this! **

.:Nekocin:. 


End file.
